Page 125 of Under the Table

Chapter

Forty-Two

“We’re glad you could meet with us today.” Josef raised his eyebrows in her direction as he swept his hand out in front of him.

Hope was used to coming down to the studio. She’d spent a lot of time there because of her daytime show and other shows she’d made guest appearances on. But she’d never been called down for a meeting quite like this. One where she wasn’t told what it was about. One where she felt on the defensive as soon as the invitation had come across her email.

“Yeah, sure.” Hope flashed Josef a smile and stepped fully into the conference room.

She sat down at one of the empty chairs and straightened her shoulders. If this was about her contract, then her agent and manager would be there. If this was about post-production, then either Angelica, Rex, or one person from the production team would be able to deal with it.

But right now she was staring at the faces of six other people—three producers and four studio execs.

And her nerves were shooting through the roof. Something wasn’t right about this meeting. And she was damn sure that she was going to end up on the shit end of the stick.

They’d only been back in Los Angeles for a few days, and Rex had dived straight into edits and postproduction. They hadn’t had much time to deal with that during filming this go around since they’d shortened the time they had to film. Which ultimately had probably been for the better. She couldn’t imagine spending another week with Angelica.

Not after that last argument.

They both needed their space. And they both needed time to lick their wounds, because damn, those wounds were deep. But the radio silence from everyone had been jarring. Even after filming ended last season it hadn’t quite been this bad.

“We called you in here today to do a formal evaluation on filming, expectations, and realities for season two. That way when we dive into season three we can be a bit more prepared to adjust and fix the problems that arise,” Logan said in his best professional voice.

She’d known Logan for years now, and she could honestly say she’d never seen him so stiff during a conversation like this. Then again, she wasn’t sure whatlike thismeant since they hadn’t really explained what this meeting was about or why it was happening the way it was.

“So this is a meeting between production and studio to make sure everything is going well?” she asked, needing to clarify for her own mental sanity.

“Yes.” Logan smiled at her, seemingly glad that she’d understood.

“Forgive me, but if this is a meeting of production and studio, why isn’t Ms. Shields here as a part of the conversation?” Hope wrung her hands together under the table.

“Ange was unavailable to join us today,” Josef answered, but he didn’t look at her.

She wondered if she’d be able to tell if he was lying. They knew each other well enough by now, didn’t they? Hopeclenched her teeth together and the tension in her shoulders made them ache.

“What do we need to discuss, then?” Hope was coming in hot. She wasn’t going to let them pull one over on her.

“Overall, how do you think filming went this season?”

“Fine,” Hope said, keeping her answers short and sweet.

“Any areas we can improve on?” Logan asked.

She looked directly at Josef. Getting him off location would be a start, but she didn’t exactly feel comfortable saying that in a room full of people she didn’t know well. And kicking Josef off might ruin the next season. Or hell, stating out loud how she really felt about him might just put her on the hit list with Angelica, and she really didn’t want that to happen.

“None that immediately jump out at me,” Hope answered. Maybe she could make this the shortest meeting in history. That’d at least free up her afternoon so she could attempt to spend some time with Rex today.

“What about Ange?” Josef asked, this time looking directly at her.

“What about Ange?” Hope threw back at him. She wasn’t going to take the bait, and she certainly wasn’t going to throw Angelica under the bus—whatever bus they’d found for her.

“Was her behavior… appropriate?” Josef asked.

Hope tensed immediately. That conversation they’d had in her office nearly a year ago about Angelica’s history with Josef, the way he’d strong-armed her into breaking up with Leanne and blackmailed her into thinking that she was the root cause for all the problems on the show came running straight back to her.

This man wasn’t her friend.

He wasn’t anyone’s friend.